Because everyone else is you say?  Surely not.  You'll have to forgive my glibness because you'd really like to think that when people engage a significant amount of time and money in something they have a decent idea why they're doing it and how they're going to measure what they do.

Alas the reality seems to be anything but.  A new survey conducted by Episerver reveals that just 10% of companies measure the ROI of their social media.  10 bloody percent!!

The madness continues.  Not only are so few measuring what they do, the survey revealed that 50% of companies are investing more time and money into social media this year.

I think this bares repeating.  Over half of the organisations in the study are spending more money on social media this year, yet 90% of them have absolutely no idea if that investment is paying off or not.

Sadly this typifies the build it and pray approach that is so common when it comes to social media.  There are certain characteristics that typify this approach:

1. They don't have a clear understanding of how social media and their organisation works together, which often results in it being banned or there being no guidance or expecations on how employees can use social media in the right way.
2. They don't know what they want social media to achieve.  Do you want better customer service?  Do you want to generate sales?  What is it that your social media will do for the customer?
3. They don't have a plan for how this will be achieved.  They literally create a Twitter profile or a LinkedIn group and then pray that it delivers some kind of benefit.
4. And last but not least they have no method for measuring whether what they're doing is working.

Social media is mature enough now that you'd think people would know better by now, but alas it appears that yet more banging of the ROI drum will be required.  If you'd like some tips on how to get your social media ROI right click here.